Romney team plans rollout of mobile payment platform in Tampa

The Romney campaign announced this morning that it would use Square, a mobile platform that allows users to collect payments on a smartphone, at the GOP convention in Tampa next week and beyond.

"We are excited to be the first Presidential campaign to make serious use of Square devices at a major event like a national convention," Zac Moffatt, the Romney campaign's digital director, said in a statement. "More importantly, we are excited to empower a national grassroots movement by providing each attendee the ability to take their Square devices back to their home state and engage with their communities."

It's a big step forward for mobile fundraising, and comes the same week the Obama campaign announced it has officially begun accepting text-message donations. Both these tools will be a huge part of fundraising at the conventions, where the majority of delegates will arrive with a smartphone -- and is a testament to the ways, as I wrote earlier this month, that social media and mobile will totally transform this year's conventions.